James Durso
On 1 March 2025, after his first Cabinet meeting, U.S. President Donald Trump said the Taliban should return the equipment the U.S. abandoned in Afghanistan as it withdrew in August 2021. He added that U.S. troops should return to Bagram air base, which he claimed was occupied by Chinese troops.
This isn’t the first time Trump demanded the return of U.S. equipment.
On the eve of his inauguration in January 2025, Trump declared that future financial assistance to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would depend on the return of the abandoned U.S. military equipment. (The U.S. Department of Defense estimated that over $7 billion in military equipment was abandoned when U.S. forces evacuated Afghanistan in August 2021. Between October 2021 and December 2024, the U.S. provided over $3.6 billion in assistance to Afghanistan according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.)
In February 2025, the Taliban replied the abandoned weapons were “spoils of war” and would be used against attempts to seize them.
We can safely put aside any talk of U.S. troops returning to Afghanistan, but even if the Taliban agreed to return the abandoned property, how would it happen?
No comments:
Post a Comment